Advanced Care Planning

Advanced Care Planning is the process of making decisions about someone's healthcare and personal care they would want to receive in the event they are unable to communicate or make decisions on their own. It involves discussing and documenting preferences for medical treatments, life-sustaining interventions, and appointing a healthcare proxy to ensure one's wishes are respected. However, at the Heartfelt Legacy Foundation, we believe advanced care planning goes beyond just medical decisions.

It’s not about dying, it's about living. We see it as an opportunity to reflect on one's life, celebrate experiences, and consider what one wants their legacy to be. It’s about exploring the lessons learned throughout life, what values have shaped who we are, and what kind of impact we hope to leave behind. Advanced care planning also invites individuals to ask deeper questions about what truly matters to them—whether it's family, personal relationships, or cherished activities, and why these aspects of their life are significant.

We believe that the advanced care planning process should foster meaningful connections with loved ones and help individuals reflect on their lives in a way that strengthens those relationships. It’s an opportunity for families to understand each other’s wishes and values more deeply, ensuring that when difficult decisions arise, they are made with clarity, compassion, and respect by caregivers.

Empowering Families Through Collaborative Advanced Care Planning

At the Heartfelt Legacy Foundation, we empower families through advanced care planning, ensuring decisions are made with clarity, dignity, and compassion. Our mission is to foster an informed, supportive approach to advanced care planning across Hawai‘i.

We aim to:

  • Educate families on advanced care planning and its impact.

  • Connect families with healthcare, legal, and financial professionals.

  • Align community needs with legislative and policy efforts.

  • Foster collaboration to ensure families’ wishes are honored.

By uniting healthcare, legal, financial, and legislative sectors, we create a sustainable approach to advanced care planning that serves Hawaii’s families.

The Importance of Normalizing Advanced Care Planning Conversations

Advanced care planning conversations can be difficult to have, but they are essential, especially for Hawaii's deeply interconnected families. In communities where structured advanced care planning is not practiced, only a small percentage of individuals document their healthcare preferences, leading to stress and uncertainty for surviving family members. Hawaii’s families are deeply interconnected, with a strong sense of community where people care for and support one another, creating a unique sense of belonging across our islands. It is essential to honor this bond as we navigate life, which is another reason why practicing advanced care planning is so important

When families engage in advanced care planning, the majority of people's wishes are honored, significantly reducing emotional distress. Our goal is to help Hawaii’s families experience a more positive, less stressful outcome by ensuring their loved ones' preferences are understood and respected.

At the Heartfelt Legacy Foundation, we are dedicated to normalizing these important conversations, providing families with peace of mind and security during life’s most challenging moments.

Our Commitment
to Change

At the Heartfelt Legacy Foundation, we are dedicated to creating a cultural shift in Hawai‘i by fostering open conversations around Advanced Care Planning. Our commitment is as follows:

  • Hosting community gatherings, such as "Death Dinners," educational seminars, and workshops, to encourage open and honest discussions.

  • Inviting experts to speak on important topics, including end-of-life decision-making, advance care planning, and navigating conversations about death, dying, and the meaning of life.

  • Collaborating with healthcare professionals, spiritual leaders, business leaders, nonprofit organizations, legal and financial experts, and other key stakeholders to promote a comprehensive approach to advanced care planning across our community in Hawaii.

As these discussions become a natural part of our community, we will remain committed to sustaining and expanding these efforts. We will continue to sponsor educational initiatives, facilitate public conversations, and strive to meet the evolving needs of our community.

By normalizing end-of-life planning, we aim to ensure that individuals’ wishes are respected, and their families are given greater peace of mind during life’s most challenging moments.